South & central turkeySouth & central turkeySouth & central turkeySouth & central turkey

23rd May 23rd May 23rd May 23rd May ---- 3rd June 2007 3rd June 2007 3rd June 2007 3rd June 2007

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TOUR LEADERS Steve Cale Mehmet Tanriverdi TOUR PARTICIPANTS Bernard Leveridge Tony Messinger Jeff Curtis Colin Barker Brian Stoneham John Boulcott Mike Birtwell 23rd May The group met up as planned at Heathrow on time, but we had a wait to begin with as there was a problem with the airlines computers meaning that all the boarding cards had to be written by hand. Eventually it was sorted and we finally boarded our flight and were on our way, but the knock on effect was a mad rush at Istanbul to try and get boarding cards for our connecting flight which, we just managed to catch by the skin of our teeth. Problems over, we finally got to Ankara late in the afternoon. Here we were met by our driver Yalchin, who soon got us moving and on the road south towards Kulu where we were to spend this evening. We had a very welcome stop at Golbas for a break & a beer, which almost did not touch the sides as we drank it. We began birding here and soon picked up on Squacco and Black-crowned Night Herons, along with Rook. We travelled on south to Kulu where we went straight to the lake, Kulu Golu, to try and get a few birds seen before dark. We were not disappointed as we saw Gull-billed Terns, Ruddy Shelduck, our first Greater Flamingo's, Isabelline Wheatear and our first lifer for most for the trip; Asian Short-toed Lark. Everyone was very tired so as the sun sank we headed for our hotel in the town and some well earned rest and a meal. 24th May We ate an early breakfast while being joined by our new guide Mehmet who was to take over from Yalchin and once the bus was loaded, we headed back to Kulu Golu where we spent the whole morning. The birding here was very good but the water levels very low due to the dry winter. The birds came thick and fast with lots of larks including Calandra and Sky Lark, our first Long-legged Buzzards, Slender-billed, Mediterranean and Armenian Gulls, 120+ Ruddy Shelduck, three nice Black-bellied Sandgrouse, Little Owl, Kentish Plover, four Red-necked Phalarope, 27 Black-necked Grebe and a pair of White-headed Duck. Butterflies also featured and we saw Brown Argus to start the list off. We drove to a restaurant in the town for our lunch and then we began the drive down the back roads to Sultanhani, where we were to stay this evening, but birded as we went with numerous stops. Along the way we saw no less than seven male and a female Montagu's Harrier, four Collared Pratincole, eight Red Backed Shrike and two Rose Coloured Starlings, as well as Silver Studded Blue Butterfly. We checked into the Kervan Pansion where there was an Olivaceous Warbler singing in the trees above us at dusk as we sat and had a drink. We had travelled over 300 kilometres across the Central Anatolian Plateau now. Here Asian Short-toed and Calandra Larks, along with Isabelline Wheatear are everywhere and dominate the birdlife of the area. The environment is controlled by the huge number of Souslik which breed in these open flat expanses of steppe habitat, keeping vegetation short, but at the same time providing nesting burrows for the wheatears which must be in millions out here and creating conditions in which the blue family of butterflies and grasshoppers are abundant forming a plentiful supply of food for these birds. At the same time during our first day out here we saw no less than fifteen Long Legged Buzzards whose main prey is obviously again the Souslik. The main problem for wildlife here must surely be the lack of fresh water. Our time here was a real chance to study an ecosystem we are not familiar with in the UK. 25th May Following an early breakfast, we were on the road again travelling basically south east to Mount Hasandag, the huge dormant volcano that dominates the plains here. On the western slopes of Hasandag, we made our first birding stop of the day and were soon rewarded with a super family party of Finsch's Wheatear, along with Roller and Hoopoe. Here, we also saw our first Eastern Festoon Butterflies among others. Soon after, we saw our first Western Rock Nuthatch of the trip, with a pair using the exact same nest that we had watched birds at last year. It was blisteringly hot birding out here but in the distance we could see an approaching storm, which caught up with us at the next area where we birded. This storm caused us to give up after having a fruitless search for Bimaculated Lark. With the storm now upon us the temperature dropped and it began to rain. We drove on east finally reaching Nigde around lunch time. Here we stopped at Akkaya Barraje, a large man made reservoir, and a good birding area. More White-headed Duck, Red Crested Pochard, Greater Flamingo, Whiskered Tern and another splendid group of 20+ Black Necked Grebe all in full breeding plumage were the highlights. We moved round to the raised viewing platform to have our picnic lunch, but had to fight the elements. Again another band of rain moved in and the wind got up, forcing us to move on. North of Nigde we turned south east and onto the mountain road to Camardi where we were to spend the next three nights. We arrived at the Safak Pansyon late in the afternoon and after a brief break to deposit our cases in the rooms we drove up to the mouth of the gorge for a productive couple of hours birding. A Golden Eagle put in its first appearance and there were both Alpine and Red Billed Chough along with lots of Alpine Swift and Crag Martins wheeling over the cliffs. The main bird we saw here was our first Red -fronted Serin; a pair gave excellent views at the gorge entrance. As dusk approached we returned to the Safak Pansion for our evening meal and an early night in readiness for our 03.30 rendezvous for the trip up the mountains and hopefully Caspian Snowcock. 26th May At 03.30 the alarm clocks were going off and everyone was up ready for the tractor ride up the mountains to Demirkazik, just as dawn broke. Our host and local guide Hassan got us all loaded into the trailer of the tractor for the 8 km bumpy ride - one of those birding experiences you will never ever forget.

At one point the track was so steep four of us had to get out and walk. Thankfully, it was dry this morning and shortly after dawn we were in place and ready for the Caspian Snowcock, a pair of which Jeff soon found. We all got onto the birds high up on the mountain side. The male was calling and by their behaviour these were obviously a breeding pair. The birding here is excellent and we had lots of Snow Finch and Northern Wheatear. We watched a super pair of Crimson-winged Finch nest building, Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush, Shore Larks of the eastern sub species penicillata and a lone Radde's Accentor. Also here, we had a heard of fourteen Ibex which gave very good scope views. The males were showing off their huge scimitar like horns and small black beard tufts. By mid morning, we had seen all our target birds so set off on the bumpy ride down the mountain, which at one point had every one worried due to the steep angle the trailer was at, which had not been so obvious on the way up. We realise now why some of us had to walk that piece. With the bumping of the trailer and gravity everyone ends up in a large pile at one end of the trailer, but the birds and the scenery of snow capped mountains made the discomfort well worth while. Hassan and his wife laid on a good breakfast for us, after which we took a walk along the wooded river valley of Camardi accompanied by Hassan's crazy dog Sinbad, who took great delight in winding up a tethered cow by barking at it, much to everyone's amusement and the cows disdain. Sinbad did however let common sense get the better of him when a huge Kangol mountain dog with a spiked metal collar came along, he decided that cowardice was the best plan and hid behind us! Thanks Sinbad! Here we saw Red Backed and Lesser Grey Shrikes, Golden Oriole and Olivaceous Warbler among the orchards and poplars of this exceedingly beautiful place. After lunch, we headed into the Emili Valley, again a stunning spot, but a little slower on the bird front. We again saw Red-fronted Serin along with Rock Buntings, Orphean Warbler and superb views of another Golden Eagle. As we left the valley, we picked up a big group of passerines in one of the open fields. This group of birds contained over twenty Rock Sparrows along with Short -toed Lark and Linnets. We drove back to the gorge, where we birded for another hour or so, before going for evening meal, and again saw lots of Chough along with some nice views of Black Redstarts of the eastern race ochruros. 27th May Having had such a good day in the mountains yesterday, we were free to tackle another area today. We headed north towards the Sultan Marshes area, which we were to find out had dried out almost completely. Lack of rain and over extraction of water for local agriculture has crippled this once healthy reserve, but a new site nearby did produce four pairs of breeding Greater Sand Plover, three of which had a single chick each. We watched these super birds for some time, also here we had Dark Green Fritillary feeding on thistles. We then moved on, exploring various spots before ending up in the centre of the dried out nature reserve. We did pick up some aquatic species including three Citrine Wagtails, Great Reed Warbler, six Glossy Ibis and Black-tailed Skimmer and Emperor Dragonflies. Along with all this was a roost of 20+ Black crowned Night Herons in a huge Willow. While watching the roost Steve provided the group with a laugh when his telescope was blown over into the marshes, landing in the water and mud. Fortunately it was waterproof, so although muddy, it was not damaged. We worked our way back toward Camardi with several stops en route looking in particular for Bimaculated Lark, but without luck. We did get a lone Black Kite and some nice views of Short-toed Lark. We arrived back at Hassan's hot and ready for a beer or two. In the garden there was a singing Upcher's Warbler which we got only partial views of as it flitted through the undergrowth and also in the trees we had a Nightingale singing, and from the copse of poplars across the road there was a Scops Owl calling which we went to hunt for with torches as dusk fell. The cover was just too dense and we could not see the bird at rest. It did show for a second as it flew out, but it was a poor view. This bird began singing each evening we were here at exactly the same time - 20.20 and must have been unpaired as it seemed to sing all night long. 28th May Another early breakfast and we were on the road by 08.00 as we transferred to Selifke on the Goksu Delta today. This is a long drive of over 250 kilometres, so we had to get moving. We had a stop at Pozanti where Tony and Jeff had Mountain Small White Butterfly. As we neared the Mediterranean coast, we began to see Red-rumped Swallows and noted over 20 by the time we reached Selifke. We dropped off the bags at the hotel and then we went down into the town to get a meal in one of the small restaurants. After lunch, we began birding in earnest, starting at the paper mill complex looking for White -breasted Kingfishers, which despite numerous attempts over the next two days, failed to show. Almost the first bird we saw here was the first of three Rufous Bush Robins today and this was quickly followed by our first White Spectacled Bulbul. Here too, we picked up our first Black Francolin, Common Kestrel and Peregrine. A female Little Bittern showed well in the remaining reeds of the largely dry drainage canal and we also saw a Swallowtail Butterfly and Emperor Dragonfly here. We moved onto the rough track that runs to the viewing platform on the North of Agkol Golu, which is always a good spot. We spent some time here and the birds here included four Spur-winged Plover, nine Grey-headed Swamp Hen, three Garganey, eighteen adult Red Crested Pochard with two broods of young. Marsh Harriers were hunting the reed beds and on a nearby rice field there were around forty Cattle Egrets. Two Eurasian Spoonbills were on the lagoon along with two Glossy Ibis and the reed beds held Great Reed and Caspian Reed Warblers, a male Bearded Tit showed and our first Graceful Warblers. The lagoons also held a single Great White Egret, over twenty Squacco Herons and fifteen Purple Heron. We finished the days birding off by heading over to the salt marsh and lagoons to the south of Kurtulus. Unfortunately, the big Sand Martin colony here looked very sick with only about fifty birds present, well down on the big numbers here last year. Another Eurasian Spoonbill showed, along with a further four Spur-winged Plovers. There were breeding Kentish Plovers at the mouth of Paradeniz Golu with chicks. There were a couple of Little Tern and Bernard spotted what we later identified as a sea turtle sp. We also got our first good views of Graceful Warbler and as we left we spotted a male Black Francolin calling from a mound at the road side. It skulked off into the grasses as we stopped and because some of the group had missed the bird we decided to investigate a bit further. We didn't see the male again, but we did find a female with at least two young. She sat very tight indeed and the first we knew about her was when we almost trod on her by mistake. Fortunately we didn’t, and we beat a hasty retreat, leaving her and her chicks in peace.

29th May From the hotel this morning we picked up on five or six Green Turtles in the sea which were very close in and gave very good views. Yes Colin Green Sea Turtle! After breakfast, we headed onto the Goksu Delta proper, birding the Delta in an anti clockwise manner. We began at the first main tower hide area overlooking the reed beds and open water of Agkol, where we spent some time. There were twenty or so Common Terns dancing over the lagoon and again Marsh Harriers were hunting the reeds. After we had been here a little while, a big group of Alpine Swifts arrived to feed over the marshes. We could see low cloud and rain over the hills inland and it appeared that this was a local movement with birds moving to a more productive feeding area ahead of the bad weather. We had some more nice views of three male Black Francolins, a lone Slender-billed Gull and twenty Yellow-legged Gulls. Further along the southern edge of Agkol there was a large open muddy area with many shorebirds. A close study of this group gave us a really super group of five Broad-billed Sandpipers, along with five Curlew Sandpiper, Common Redshank, Ruddy Turnstone, six Little Stint and several Black winged Stilts, along with a nice pair of Marbled Teal. Views from a nearby viewing platform over the lagoon gave us possibly one of the most unexpected birds of the trip in the shape of a Whooper Swan! What on earth was that doing there! Presumably, it was an injured winter visitor, incapable of flying north again. Lunch time found us by the derelict buildings on the North edge of Paradeniz Golu. Here there is a small area of freshwater which was full of young Green Toads and Lined Green Tree Frogs, along with numerous insects including three Slender Skimmers, two Scarlet Darters, two Black Perchers and two Oriental Scarlet Dragonflies and an Anomalus Blue Butterfly. There were also two more Little Stint here. We headed for Selifke and after a few wrong turns, a touch of deja vous and an ice cream stop, we found our way up the east side of the gorge behind the town and on up past the still largely intact Roman Tombs to an area of woodland we had discovered last year. This woodland holds a number of species we wanted. Here we saw Masked Shrike, Cretzschmar’s Bunting and an un co-operative Olive-tree Warbler. Sardinian Warbler, Syrian Woodpecker and the much wanted Kruper's Nuthatch all gave better views. A good selection of butterflies were also on show including Ilex Hairstreak and Southern Grayling. We birded for some time here, and then, as evening came, we headed back to the paper mill for yet another fruitless attempt for the kingfishers. As we drove down to the town, we stopped a couple of times to photograph the Roman Tombs and the very impressive castle which also dates back to Roman times. En route, we picked up two Eurasian Jay of the race atricapilus. 30th May Another move after breakfast today with us heading east to Birecik on the River Euphrates. This is a long drive of over 300 kilometres, and fortunately we had a change of bus today with lots more room as well as a driver called Ruhi who worked along side Mehmet. We had a couple of stops en route, but only added Lesser Spotted Fritillary to our list. However, at one point we did get rather good view of an Egyptian Mongoose which crossed the road in front of us and then for a very short distance ran parallel to the bus. We could clearly see all the animal's features including a small tuft on the tail tip. This is quite a sizeable animal, running fast and low when out in the open so has a very distinct shape. At 15.00, we arrived at Durnalik, where we birded until 17.10 then we moved to the water pumping station at Isikli until 18.00. At Durnalik it was 32c, so very hot, but the birding was good. We saw our first new bird for the day soon after arriving in the shape of a fine male White-throated Robin, perched on a bush on the ridge above us. Then we picked up on Eastern Rock Nuthatch, a pair of which gave fine views, as did a splendid male Cinereous Bunting. We had a male Blue Rock Thrush, and in the line up of warblers were four Upcher's, an Orphean and a Lesser Whitethroat of one of the dark eastern races. At one point Bern was feeling the strain, so stayed behind in the shade, but was rewarded with nice close views of another White-throated Robin. At the pumping station, a permanent flow of water down the dry hillside pulls birds in from far and wide, allowing us to get super views of at least four Desert Finches, along with another nice Cinereous Bunting. Evening was upon us and we still had a good distance to go, so we again set of f, through Gaziantep and on to Birecik arriving around 19.00. We were soon checked in to the hotel and re-convened in the restaurant for our evening meal. It is still hot here even late in the evening, thank goodness for the air conditioning… 31st May Shortly after dawn we were at the wadi north of the Bald Ibis colony in Birecik and having run the gauntlet of a savage mother dog [who had young pups nearby], who decided she didn’t like the look of our group, we made it into the Wadi and began birding. We saw our first Northern Bald Ibis straight away, these birds here being away from the WWF supported semi captive colony and breeding in the wild. Apparently, there had been over forty young reared here in 2006 both inside and outside the colony, so they seem to now be doing quite well. Ibis apart, we had no sooner got birding when we were overtaken by a group of four Finnish birders who were determined to be in front of us as we walked up the wadi and so moved birds on before we could see them. After a short while, we decided to give up as we were seeing very little, and so we scaled the side of the wadi to look at the plateau beyond. Here we saw Roller, Woodchat Shrike and Rufous Bush Robin, but not the hoped for See-see Partridge. While up here John found us our first Hummingbird Hawk moth of the trip. As we walked back down the wadi, we did get nice views of a pair of Menetries Warbler and both Olivaceous and Upcher's Warblers. Back on the river front, we decided to walk south following the cliff face looking for Little Swift and were soon in luck with over twenty birds present and activity around six nests. On the river, we picked up on our first Pygmy Cormorants and an Armenian Gull. We went for breakfast - it was already getting hot, even hotter than yesterday. We next visited the gravel workings looking for the Iraq Babbler's we had found last year. It was clearly apparent that our finding the Babblers had triggered birders into once again visiting Turkey and we had been bumping into groups since we arrived at Camardi on the 25th. Others had seen the Babblers but not us. We did however see three Pied Kingfisher, Dead Sea Sparrows, more Bald Ibis and Pygmy Cormorants, European Bee-eaters, Menetries, Great Reed and Graceful Warblers plus a nice pair of Montagu's Harrier. We spent lunch time in the grounds around the Blue Fountain Cafe where we picked up almost straight away on the Striated Scops Owl, sat out in the open against a tree trunk. We got the bird so quickly thanks to the new driver who had seen the bird there a few days earlier with another group, so unlike last year we did not have over a days searching to do. After watching the bird and a couple of drinks, we were about to move off when Steve's phone rang and three British birders we had been talking to earlier had just seen a babbler at the gravel pits so we dashed back around there in the hope of catching up with the bird but to no avail. We saw similar birds to this morning, but did pick up on Lesser Emperor Dragonfly. After a while the heat beat us and we retired to the bus but again.

We could see a big storm heading our way, but before it arrived, we drove through the town and then out a little way to the east where we looked for See-see Partridge and within five minutes of stopping we had found two pairs, which although a little distant gave very good and prolonged views - an excellent find! We began to explore a little further to the north east, but the wind was getting strong and with the storm almost upon us, we made our way down through the back streets of Birecik. It was so narrow I’m not sure how on earth we got through with the big bus, but somehow Ruhi managed it, that is to say with a little help from half the towns population calling us one way or another. It began to rain; boy did it rain – and hail, big stones, which absolutely clattered off the roof of the bus. We saw one old chap get hit on the head with one and it clearly hurt him. It was still hailing when we got to the hotel and we had to run the gauntlet of this and the high winds top get to our rooms – we had no weather like this last year when the skies stayed a deep azure blue throughout the whole trip!. Oh well, an eventful end to a very good days birding. The day was topped off by Mehmet having arranged a meal of Omelette and Chips for us as we were all a bit fed up of salad and kebabs and with a few Efes Beers this meal was great and was enjoyed by all. 1st June This morning we were up early again to try and get the babblers. We went back to the spot where we found the birds last year as the sightings all seemed to be centred around this area. We were soon alerted by Jeff, who picked up a bird on the fence line near the original spot. This however vanished for almost an hour. We searched and searched until in the end Steve spotted an adult Iraq Babbler sat up doing it's sentry duty pose on a distant tall reed stem. We were soon scoping the birds and over the next hour we watched four adults come and go to two broods of young of three and four respectively that were all hidden in a dense part of the reed bed. Here was a largely dead Tamarisk tree which the young climbed out onto every now and then. The adult birds fanned out from this nursery spot to find food hence the random odd sightings in other areas by other birders. The brood of four were not as old as the others and showed shorter tails and far more prominent gape patches. Everyone was happy and we went back for breakfast. After breakfast, we went to the Blue Fountain again for another look at the Striated Scops Owl, which we got again and after only a few minutes a Syrian Woodpecker was spotted and as we moved to get views of it Mike had quite a bad fall due to slipping on mud left by yesterday's storm. He did comment afterwards that he had seen the birds backside vanish up the tree as he fell! He broke his glasses and blacked his eye - he looked like he'd been in a fight! Mike was covered from head to foot in sticky mud and we took him back to the hotel to get him clean and his cuts patched up. It turned out later that yesterday's storm had hit the next town west, Nizip pretty hard and at least one person had been killed by flooding! After all this excitement, we spent the rest of the day exploring around Akpinar and found four male Finsch's Wheatears and eight Bimaculated Lark, one of which gave super close views at a nest, allowing us time to really study the bird. We picked up on a melanistic Montagu's Harrier out here and also saw two small Preying Mantis. As we headed back, yet another storm was sweeping in and skirted us just as we got to the Hotel. We packed in a little early today due to the weather and leaving in the morning. 2nd June Our final full day. Today we had to transfer back to Gaziantep, so this morning we were on the road by 08.30 and at Isikli by 10.00 ready to bird. First off, we tackled the rocky mountain slopes and valley's east of the village, where the climbs took it out of the group with the heat. This was to be our dip out spot and despite valiant attempts, we had no sightings of Pale Rock Sparrow, although two birds very high up in flight were probably this species. We saw more Cinereous Bunting, Blue Rock Thrush and Western Rock Nuthatch as well as some super Black-eared Wheatears. An adult Short-toed Eagle put on a show, as did a Long-legged Buzzard, probably one of the pair breeding in Durnalik Valley we had seen feeding a youngster at a nest on the crags. The butterflies were again good - we saw Dark Green Fritillary, Essex Skipper and Lesser Spotted Fritillary for a second time. At lunch time, we headed for the water pumping station, but saw little here in the way of birds this time. We did however see Black- tailed Skimmer of the southern sub species and Ionus Blue Butterfly. Now we had to bid our goodbye's to Mehmet, as he had to catch a bus in Gaziantep, taking him west to meet up with another group tomorrow. The group were dropped at Durnalik again to bird until Ruhi came back with the bus later in the afternoon. Down by the small stream, there were numerous Black-headed Buntings coming to drink and an Orphean Warbler bathing. Two Turtle Doves put in an appearance, but it was the insects again that came up trumps with a superb female Blue-eyed Golden Ringed Dragonfly and a pair of mating Southern Skimmer. Also here we had another new butterfly in the shape of Odd Spot Blue. In the end a gang of local youngsters turned up, making lots of noise and wanted to talk to us whether we wanted them to or not and made such a nuisance of them selves that in the end we gave up and walked off to where the bus was to meet us. In fairness, they were only being friendly, but it wasn’t conducive to watching birds. Along the road there is a bench in the shade of a tree and most of the time no one is there, that is of course until we wanted to use it, when half the village of Durnalik had decided to sit in the shade there, leaving no room for us, mind you I can't say I blame them as it is a nice spot and it is their village!! We sat on a wall under some trees further down the road after saying hello to the locals on the bench and while we waited for the bus, we had two Upcher's Warblers and two Rufous Bush Robins. We were soon on our way to the hotel in Gaziantep and a bit more comfort. The evening meal was again Kebabs and Salad, but as Mike was not feeling good he decided not to eat much. In Steve's broken Turkish he asked for some honey and banana for Mike as this is what he wanted i.e. honey to be spread on bread and then a banana for afterwards. After a few minutes one of the chef's appeared with a plate and a very bewildered look on his face and Mike was presented with a plate of sliced banana covered in honey! Well nearly right, sorry Mike. 3rd June We had an early transfer this morning to the airport ready for our flight home which left bang on time for Istanbul. On our way to the airport, we did get views of a couple of Laughing Doves and a Syrian Woodpecker. The flight got us to Istanbul on time and we had a somewhat more leisurely time connecting with the flight home, only marred by the fact that when we checked in we realised that Mike had been put onto a different connecting flight home to the rest of us. However we were able to remedy this and the problem was sorted out to Mike's relief. Our flight arrived back home at 15.00 and we said our goodbyes, concluding a very memorable tour.

SYSTEMATIC LIST Little Grebe Black-necked Grebe Great Crested Grebe Pygmy Cormorant Little Bittern Squacco Heron Cattle Egret Little Egret Great White Egret Black-crowned Night Heron Purple Heron Grey Heron Eurasian Spoonbill Greater Flamingo Glossy Ibis White Stork Whooper Swan Common Shelduck Ruddy Shelduck Eurasian Teal Garganey Gadwall Marbled Teal Northern Shoveler Mallard Red Crested Pochard Common Pochard Ferruginous Duck White-headed Duck Marsh Harrier Montagu's Harrier Honey Buzzard Long-legged Buzzard Steppe Buzzard Short-toed Eagle Golden Eagle Peregrine Eurasian Hobby Lesser Kestrel Common Kestrel Grey-headed Swamp hen Common Coot Moorhen Caspian Snowcock Chukar See-see Partridge Black Francolin Eurasian Oystercatcher Pied Avocet Black-winged Stilt Collared Pratincole Ruddy Turnstone Northern Lapwing Spur-winged Plover Little Ringed Plover Ringed Plover Kentish Plover Greater Sand Plover Red-necked Phalarope Black-tailed Godwit Little Stint Broad-billed Sandpiper Curlew Sandpiper Ruff Whimbrel Marsh Sandpiper Common Redshank Black-headed Gull Mediterranean Gull Slender-billed Gull

Yellow-legged Gull Armenian Gull Gull-billed Tern Common Tern Little Tern Whiskered Tern White-winged Black Tern Black-bellied Sandgrouse Wood Pigeon Collared Dove Turtle Dove Rock Dove Laughing Dove Common Cuckoo Little Owl Eurasian Scops Owl Striated Scops Owl Long-eared Owl Eurasian Nightjar Common Swift Alpine Swift Little Swift Pied Kingfisher European Kingfisher European Roller European Bee-eater Hoopoe Golden Oriole Syrian Woodpecker Swallow Red-rumped Swallow House Martin Sand Martin Crag Martin Asian Short-toed Lark Short-toed Lark Bimaculated Lark Calandra Lark Crested Lark Sky Lark Shore Lark Tawny Pipit Citrine Wagtail White Wagtail Yellow Wagtail [Black Headed] Radde's Accentor White-spectacled Bulbul Rufous Bush Robin Common Nightingale White-throated Robin Black Redstart Stonechat Finsch's Wheatear Northern Wheatear Isabelline Wheatear Black-eared Wheatear Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush Blue Rock Thrush Blackbird Cetti's Warbler Graceful Warbler Reed warbler Great Reed Warbler Olivaceous Warbler Upcher’s warbler Olive-tree Warbler Orphean Warbler Sardinian Warbler Menetries Warbler Common Whitethroat Lesser Whitethroat

Iraq Babbler Sombre Tit Great Tit Coal Tit Eastern Rock Nuthatch Western Rock Nuthatch Kruper's Nuthatch Red-backed Shrike Woodchat Shrike Masked Shrike Lesser Grey Shrike Common Raven Rook Hooded Crow Jackdaw Alpine Chough Red-billed Chough Eurasian Jay Black-billed Magpie Common Starling Rose Coloured Starling Rock Sparrow Dead Sea Sparrow Tree Sparrow House Sparrow Spanish Sparrow Yellow-throated Sparrow [Chestnut Shouldered Sparrow] Crimson-winged Finch White-winged Snow Finch Desert Finch Greenfinch Goldfinch Chaffinch Common Linnet Red-fronted Serin European Serin Corn Bunting Rock Bunting Cinereous Bunting Cretzschmar's Bunting Ortolan Bunting Black-headed Bunting Mammals Egyptian Mongoose Brown Hare Souslik Vole sp Ibex Hedgehog [road casualty] Reptiles Agama Lizard Smooth Skink Lizard Sp Whip Snake Land Tortoise Green Turtle Green Toad Marsh Frog Lined Green Tree Frog Dragonflies Dainty Blue Damselfly Blue Tailed Damselfly Dark Winged Groundling Slender Skimmer Small Skimmer Keeled Skimmer Southern Skimmer Black Tailed Skimmer

Scarlet Skimmer/Oriental Scarlet Black Percher Red-veined Darter Common Darter Scarlet Darter/Broad Scarlet Blue Eyed Golden Ringed Dragonfly Emperor Dragonfly Lesser Emperor Dragonfly Butterflies Painted Lady Red Admiral Southern White Admiral Swallowtail Scarce Swallowtail Southern Swallowtail Clouded Yellow Berger's Clouded Yellow Brimstone Bath White Small Bath White Mountain Small White Small White Large White Balkan Marbled White Silver Washed Fritillary Dark Green Fritillary High Brown Fritillary Queen of Spain Fritillary Twin Spot Fritillary Lesser Spotted Fritillary Eastern Festoon Lattice Brown Oriental Meadow Brown Meadow Brown Wall Brown Large Wall Brown Gatekeeper Southern Gatekeeper Southern Grayling Speckled Wood Common Blue Zephyr Blue Silver Studded Blue Small Blue Anomalous Blue Odd Spot Blue Chelmos Blue Ionus Blue Brown Argus Small Skipper Essex Skipper Marbled Skipper Mediterranean Skipper Ilex Hairstreak Other Insects Preying Mantis sp Stick Insect sp Ant lion Hummingbird Hawk moth Spurge Hawk moth [caterpillar only] Locust Great Green Bush Cricket Large Cricket sp Grasshopper sp [numerous]